Sports journalist Grant Wahl, a great soccer reference in the United States, died this Friday at the age of 48 while covering the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
US media claimed that Wahl collapsed during his coverage of the quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands. For now, the exact cause of his death is not known.
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“The entire US soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” the US Soccer Federation (USSF) said in a statement.
âFans of football and top-quality journalism knew we could always count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our sport and its great players,â he added.
US Soccer Statement On The Passing Of Grant Wahl: pic.twitter.com/CBp1mCK1mQ
âUS Soccer (@ussoccer) December 10, 2022
In your Twitter accountwhere he had more than 850,000 followers, this respected and influential football journalist published live messages throughout Friday about what was happening both in the match between Argentina and the Netherlands and in the previous one between Brazil and Croatia.
In his blog, Wahl explained last Monday that he had had some health problems in recent days and that he received treatment in Qatar for what appeared to be bronchitis.
Just now: Security guard refusing to let me into the stadium for USA-Wales. âYou have to change your shirt. It’s not allowed.â pic.twitter.com/TvSGThMYq8
â Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) November 21, 2022
âMy body has finally fallen apart. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and a lot of work can do this to you,â he said, recounting how what seemed like âa coldâ turned into something âmore severeâ on the night of the round of 16 game between the US and the Netherlands.
Wahl made headlines early in the tournament when he was detained by security at Qatar’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium for wearing a rainbow jersey to the United States’ World Cup opener against Wales. He said that he was wearing the shirt as a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
It has not been the first time that Grant has been the news and not the one who gives it. Sports Illustrated fired him in 2020 after he complained about pandemic-related pay cuts, the newspaper reported at the time. The Washington Post.
One of the first people to mourn his death was basketball player Lebron James. Wahl wrote an iconic story that made the cover of Sports Illustrated on February 18, 2002 while James was still a high school student. He called him ‘The Chosen One’. 20 years later, LeBron James is considered by many to be one of the greatest players of all time. “My condolences to his family. I have seen that his brother has also said something. Until we have more details about what happened [no harĂ© mĂĄs comentarios sobre la naturaleza de su muerte]. But I’m very fond of Grant and the fact that I was a teenager and he covered that cover was a great thing. It was always very nice to be with him. He spent a lot of time in Akron, my hometown, covering me before that cover story came out,â he has said.
LeBron James was asked postgame about the death of Grant Wahl. His response from him: pic.twitter.com/FeH9hHCTEE
âSam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) December 10, 2022
